


Never a Good Idea

by Libitina



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gratuitous Rumi Quotation, Inanimate Objects, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-22
Updated: 2006-11-22
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:51:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libitina/pseuds/Libitina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>set during "The Return: Part 1"</p>
    </blockquote>





	Never a Good Idea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Debris_K](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debris_K/gifts).



> set during "The Return: Part 1"

  
_Hidden from all_  
I will speak to you without words.  
No one but you will hear my story  
even if I tell it in the middle of the crowd. 

~*~*~*~*~

Don't leave me.

Sheppard tosses and turns at night. He thinks it is because of the tables and tallies in his head. All the good done in this galaxy. All the bad. All the death. All to be reckoned up in briefings now that the ancients have reclaimed Atlantis and they are being sent home.

Earth was never your home.

He's sitting in a briefing. Still with friends, but somber. Planning the return is like planning a funeral. He thinks it's just because he is tired that he hears the voice.

I waited for you. Silent and lonely - abandoned - and I waited. You have protected me. I have protected you. You can't leave me.

He looks around, but everyone is still working on spreadsheets and inventory lists. They'll leave their food behind. Earth doesn't really need a supply of tava beans.

Each and every lonely year under the water. Only one of your people to keep me company - not one of theirs. None of theirs. Yours. Waiting for you. Both of us, waiting together. She was a promise for the future, my only purpose. And yet she can't hear me the way you can. I don't trust them anymore. She promised you would come, and you did. They promised they would stay, and they left. Promise me. Promise me you will stay.

John shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. As soon as the briefing lets out, he goes to a washroom and runs cold water over his face. He has another meeting. He is just tired.

I waited as long as I could and longer. I sacrificed piers and towers holding the shield in place for you. I waited for you to come back before I rose the city because the gate would have been unstable with the power fluctuations of rising. I cared for you. Don't leave me.

He is sitting in Elizabeth's office, staring dumbly at the art piece on her desk. Didn't there used to be four figures sitting in the sand? Maybe there were always three. He assures her that the military is organized and ready to move out. He bring himself to ask the doubts he has been stewing on - they just occurred to him a few days ago, "What if we can't trust these ancients?"

She smiles at him sympathetically, "We have to. This city is theirs."

Not any more! They left me to sink, to die, to rot. They can't have me back. Usurpers. Thieves!

John thinks he's losing it, but he's still toying with the idea of stowing away and staying behind with Teyla and Ronon come to make sure he is packed. He suspects they know his hesitation. He suspects Teyla is trying to keep him sane. He hopes she doesn't know that he needs it.

He has been hearing things.

**Author's Note:**

> silentflux requested - Banner or wallpaper or fic incorporating one of the following poems by Rumi -- everything else is creator's choice:


End file.
